2011 was a good year for area athletes/teams

As most of you know, I'm not big on rankings. That's why you will never see me create the Appeal top-10 or anything of that nature.

I do however have a lot of opinions, many of which I have shared over the years. In the past calendar year, area athletes/teams have accomplished a great deal, and I'd like to mention, in no specific order, some of the accomplishments in the past year.

I've not included Douglas only because I know my esteemed colleague at the Record-Courier, Joey Crandall, has his own list.

The Carson football team accomplished its goal of getting a share of a third consecutive league title along with Reed. The Senators went unbeaten in league and reached the state semifinals before losing to Reed 49-0. Carson went 10-2 for the second time in three seasons. Quite an accomplishment for coach Blair Roman and the boys.

Also very worthy of mention was the performance of Carson High's girls' cross country team which captured this year's state championship despite the fact its top runner, April Shonnard, could barely run after a late-season injury. Coach Pete Sinnott's team put on a great show back in November. Alex Drozdoff (2nd) and Cindy Juchtzer (9th) both placed in the top 10.

Kudos also goes to the Carson Little League 11-12 all-star squad which reached the state tournament in Las Vegas this year. Unfortunately, the group of young men didn't reach their goal of the Western Regionals, but they still put on a good show. No doubt you will see most of them in Carson High varsity uniforms in three or four years.

Two other Carson athletes who deserve special attention are wrestlers Cole McCarthy and Nico Garcia. McCarthy, a 126-pounder, placed second in the regionals and fourth in state. Garcia placed second in regionals and at state. Both have a great shot at getting back to state this year. Carson's wrestling team won the state academic championship.

Randy Roser's girls' soccer squad upset Douglas to win the regional championship and advance to the state meet. Emmy Heller was solid in goal, while Kenzie Tillitt and Josie Daggs supplied the bulk of the offense. It was his first regional title in nine years.

On the boys' basketball front, Carson tied for fourth in the league standings and played Damonte Ranch in a play-in game. The Senators lost, and that happened to be the final game of Bruce Barnes' tenure at Carson. Barnes ran a great program, and was always able to get more from his squad than people expected year in and year out. Carlos Mendeguia, Barnes' assistant for more than 10 years, took the reins.

Carson Pop Warner had an undefeated team this past season.

The Midget team, under the direction of Vic Castro won eight straight games to win the Snow Bowl.

Castro's group used a multi-quarterback system and outscored teams 230-49 this season.

The local team, however, lost in the regional playoffs in Santa Clara on Thanksgiving weekend.

The 2011 season was a big one for the University of Nevada football program.

Quarterrback Colin Kaepernicvk capped a sensational career by being drafted in the second round by the San Francisco 49ers. he's only gotten to throw five passes this year, but he has a bright future.

Kaepernick was one of three Nevada players drafted along with Dontay Moch and Virgil Green.

I'm certainly no expert on Nevada football, but I can't remember anybody being drafted this high by an NFL team at least in teh past 10 seasons.

The Reno Aces won their first-ever division championship this past summer.

Unfortunately, the Aces lost in the playoffs to perennial powerhouse Sacramento in five games. Reno had won the first two games of the series.

One thing I also want to mention before the year ends is that Jim Blueberg, who has coached youth baseball in the area for many years, apparently has been hired by the New York Mets to be a scout.

I will be doing a story on Blueberg's new gig in the coming weeks. I want to thank Joe Domitrovich for the heads up.

And finally, I want to wish everybody in Carson a succesful and happy 2012.